A Brave New World (Reboot)
by FlynnLivesndIwilbuildtheGrid
Summary: A Reboot of my old story "A Brave New World." Princess Bubblegum has hired a dig team to unearth a Pre-Mushroom War structure that was found recently. Finn and Jake help with the dig and report back to her, but when they go inside, they find far more than they bargained for. Takes place after "Elementals" now.
1. An Old But New World is Found

"How long till we get there Jake?" Finn asked with a heavy sigh and a bored expression.

"A few more minutes, the legs don't get out as often as they used to." Jake replied.

Princess Bubblegum had given them the job of going to an excavation site where a pre-Mushroom War building had been discovered, contacting her with a report on how the dig was going, and to assist in the dig if they wanted to.

A full side of the building had been uncovered by the time they arrived at the site. After relaying the report of how the dig was going to PB over the crystal communication necklace Finn and Jake set to work helping with the dig. Finn did so wondering if it would look the same as the buildings on the island. Gradually, over the course of many days, they excavated the area surrounding the building out.

On the last day of excavation Princess Bubblegum arrived to study the building from close up.

A giant neon sign saying "Flynn's" hung from the front of the building. The trio (Finn, Jake and PB) entered the building and prepared each other for anything. PB looked around with a scientist's eye of curiosity as she examined everything about the building's interior.

She noted the plastic covering every object in the room, the power boxes attached to the wall next to the door and the floor mat with the word "Flynn's" written on it.

"The man certainly liked to show the world what was his." she said out loud to herself. She proceeded to open the larger of the two boxes on the wall to find a series of switches with illegible words written next to each of them.

"Bring in the generator!" Princess Bubblegum shouted out the door.

Moments later, two banana guards ran in with a large tesla-like device carried between them.

"What kind of generator is that Peebes?" Finn asked curiously.

"A wireless one."

Bubblegum flipped a switch on the generator and the building came alive. Many noises started up from underneath the plastic sheets and music blared out of the PA system for the first time in millennia. PB was quick to find the volume controls and take the noise level down to bearable levels.

While PB had been examining the general structure and layout of the building and taking a few notes on various things, Finn and Jake had pulled all the plastic sheets off of the machines.

Finn and Jake stared wide-eyed at all of the now active gaming machines. After a minute or so they began trying to figure out how to play the games. Finn began to think that the 25cent sign on the games matched a large round metal object they had found a bunch of a few months prior. It even looked like it would fit in the slot on the machine. Running on this guess, Finn pulled a fist-full of quarters out of Jake's fat and put one in the machine.

The game (a.k.a Pac Man) immediately responded with a series of sounds, a flash on the screen and the game started. After a few minutes of playing Finn was defeated by Pinky. Jake then took a turn and after immediately loosing, gave up and went with Finn to test out all the other games.

PB, eventually, noticed this and asked for some quarters to try one of the games. Finn gave her a few quarters which she immediately put to use in decimating a number of the games.

The Banana Guards eventually joined in the fun and played long into the night on the various arcade games. Finn eventually ran out of quarters and just started using some old gold coins they hadn't dropped off at home yet.

By the time Finn, Jake, and PB had all made it to the game at the back of the room the first hints of the sunrise were beginning to show outside. A large neon sign hung over this game saying "Tron".

PB put the gold coin in only for it to be spit out onto the floor. Bending down to pick it up she noticed grooves in the floor. Intrigued by it she had Finn and Jake move the machine on its hidden hinges to find the sleek metal door hidden behind it. Finn pulled the door open and let Jake walk through to look around. Seeing nothing but a set of stairs he gave them the go ahead.

They entered and began to descend the stairs to find yet another door blocking their path this one equally as sleek as the one up the stairs. Finn slowly turned the handle and opened the door letting it swing inward soundlessly. Inside everything was covered by a very sizable amount of dust. There was a couch off to the side that probably hadn't been sat on in forever. Many faded pictures covered the walls. A diagram of what had been so boldly capped as 'The Grid' was also pinned to one wall showing a series of sectors with notes next to many of them.

There was a large laser standing in the center of the room that had PB's immediate attention along with the final object in the room, a large computer table with an ever-counting set of numbers moving across its built-in touch-screen. A leather dust-caked arm-chair was pulled up to it. Interested by this PB cleaned off the seat, sat down and wiped the dust away from the screen.

At her touch the computer woke from its long sleep mode. Curious she began to attempt to learn what this computer had inside. First, she typed the most basic command she could think of for an old computer system 'Whoami'. The computer typed out 'Flynn' in response.

"Yet another thing this Flynn owns" she privately thought to herself. Finn and Jake gazed down at what PB was doing while standing to either side of her.

After a few tries to login she succeeded in getting into the system. She proceeded to pull up the last known operations hoping to see what had been the last thing used.

"Laser Control." PB looked back at the object in the center of the room. "Now I know what you are, but now I want to know what you do."

Determined to get to the bottom of this, PB selected the laser control operation, taking note of the noise of the laser behind her turning on.

A box flashed onto the screen "activate laser yes/no." With a look back, she hit "Yes". The laser fired at the three of them. After a second of blinding light the room was empty.


	2. Onto The Grid

On the other side of the screen, the newly digitized trio found themselves in a dust free version of the arcade basement.

"What just happened?" Finn openly asked looking around the room.

"I don't know man." Jake says. "Maybe that laser did something to us!"

"Not just us, look at the room. Wasn't it dustier than Dust Princesses house a minute ago, and where did the laser go?" PB ask more to herself than to Finn and Jake as she stood from the pristine leather chair.

Princess Bubblegum reexamined the room for a few moments before a light flashed across the window that was near the ceiling. PB bolted for the door.

"Banana Guards, which one of you is misusing the excavation equipment!" Princess Bubblegum shouted as she practically sprinted up the stairs.

"Wait, PB!" Finn shouted as he pulled his trusty gold sword and ran after her.

A moment later Finn, Jake, and PB all burst out of the front door to a very different world then the one they had left.

"Whoa, what happened out here?" Jake asked with confusion. "Everything is so sleek, and kinda creepy."

"Banana Guards!" PB called out for her banana men, but none appeared.

Looking around they saw massive buildings that touched the sky and buildings on a ground-like sky that touched the ground. Everything seemed to have glowing lines of various colors that raced across them.

They're amazement was cut short by a far-off noise above them, a noise that had been growing dangerously close to them.

Finn instantly went into battle mode and readied his sword. Jake gave himself large muscular arms and got ready to punch some evil. PB drew a small blaster and tried to figure out where they were.

About 10 yards from them a strange vehicle slowed to a stop and seemed to fade away, leaving a man in white armor behind. Finn was surprised to see what the driver of the now seemingly none existing vehicle looked like.

"You're human?" The driver seems confused and at Finn's words.

"Nobody has ever asked me if I'm human. Why do you ask?" Said the now curious but still nameless person.

"Because you look human, and I kind of want to know where we are on top of that." Finn said.

The man's eyes grow as wide as dinner plates as he ran up and grabbed Finn to pull him into a hug, one filled with joy, pain, and relief.

"How long has it been? Is the war over? How many humans survived?" the man asked franticly.

"Hold on, first off, answer my question. Are you human?" Finn said as he pulled himself free of the man's embrace.

"Yes, I am human. My name's Sam, Sam Flynn." said Sam

"Now it's your turn to answer my questions. We've locked ourselves in here after the war broke out to survive. We'd hoped that one day someone would find their way in so we could go home." Sam said.

Finn was in awe, this was a human from before the war.

"Well I'm not quite sure when the war ended but it happened about a thousand years, and there's a lot of humans out on an island in the ocean." Finn responded. Sam let out a sign of relief.

"I heard about that when it was still being planned, didn't actually think that it would be ready in time. Glad to see I was wrong. So, how's the world looking after nuclear war?"

"I can show you that." PB stated as she pulled a small holo-display out of her pocket and pulled up an image of Earth with a massive crater scaring its surface.

"Oh my god, we really did a number on Earth!" Sam said horrified by the image he was seeing.

"Well during the war, the mother of all bombs was dropped over some part of the world. It completely vaporized everything for hundreds of miles in every direction bringing a swift end to the Mushroom War but…" Princess Bubblegum's expression darkened considerably.

"Even with the war over, the damage had been done, billions died. There hadn't been a human seen in Ooo in over 300 years before Finn was found as a baby." PB ran through her explanation as she got up close to Sam and studied him from up-close.

Sam slowly processed the information he had been given.

"Alright, it's something I kind of expected. Once the first bombs dropped, we knew it wasn't going to stop until one side was wiped out. It's why we got as many people as we could and got them here. We even fortified the building above to help ensure the machine would survive longer. Backup power cells, a lot of different power generation methods. We did everything to ensure we'd keep going as long as possible." Sam's voice starts to break about halfway through as tears start to roll down his face.

"It's probably a good time to get going. Everyone else will want to know what's happened out there." Sam said as he pulled a baton from a holster on his leg.

Sam pulled the baton apart and from it a machine began to appear. When it was done he motioned for them to climb aboard.

Sam operated the controls and the object lifted from the ground and headed towards a large tower in the distance.

"Hey kid!" Sam shouted.

"Yeah Sam?" Finn shouted back.

"What exactly are your two buddies? One looks like a dog and the other one looks like she's made of gum."

"I can answer that!" PB interjected.

"I'm living candy, my name is Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. The dog is magical and his name is Jake."

"Alright, good enough explanation for now, but it might be a good idea to give us all a run-down of what we'll be seeing out there when we make it to the tower."

On and on they flew, toward the vibrant tower that seemed to be the center of it all.


	3. A Fresh Start

As they flew closer and closer to the center of the city, Princess Bubblegum began to ask Sam various questions about the world before the war and how they made such a system as The Grid.

"So, who are these people that you are so determined to take with us out of this place?" PB asked curiously.

"Like I said before: they're my friends, family, and colleges. People my wife and I couldn't bear to leave out there during the war, so we told them the truth about this place and brought them in with us." Sam replied.

"My wife's actually from here, she's an ISO. You know my dad told me that they really weren't from anywhere, that 'the conditions were right and they came into being.'"

"Wait, someone had to have created them, programs don't just appear." PB fired back.

Sam only chuckled and replied.

"You clearly don't have any sense of imagination, does this place look like it's some simple program?"

"Well, no… but…" PB seemed to deflate before thinking of something else to say.

"Maybe I could examine the coding for this place after we get out all the people, see how it works."

"We'll see about that later on. For now, we're here!" Sam shouted before he took the recognizer in for a landing.

Finn, Jake, and PB follow Sam to a large elevator that goes up the towering structure.

"Going up." Sam said as he pressed his hand to the ground and the elevator began to climb.

When the elevator stopped, a door opened and a large group of humans appeared to be waiting for them inside with mixed reactions of shock, glee, and relief.

"Good news everyone, war's over and the door's open. We can go home!" The group cheered at the announcement they had waited so long for.

"Everyone listen up!" Sam shouted to once again gain their attention.

"Let's take a few minutes to tell about some things that have happened to Earth while we we've been in here." Sam said and began to recount everything PB had told him about events since the war ended. By the end of the recap, many people had begun to cry.

Several hours passed as people began to calm down and prepare to leave The Grid.

When the time came, many pulled out various kinds of batons and used their desired mode of transport to make their way toward the portal.

Sam was one of the last to leave, he was preoccupied with helping others get on their way. Then Alan came up to Sam.

"Come on Sam, let's go see the sun before they all leave without us. Besides, I don't think your new friends want to stay in here too long when the party is happening on the other side of the portal."

Sam looked at Finn, Jake, and PB then at the shining portal out in the distance.

"He's right guys, we need to go while the portal's open." Sam pulled out a new baton for each of them to use. "Let's get going, we still need to get across the sea."

Sam took a brief moment to explain how to use the batons before he took off for the portal.

Over the course of the flight to the portal, Finn, Jake, and PB became rather acclimated to flying the light-jets, maneuvering around rocks and other things as they headed for the portal.

Everyone was waiting at the portal for them as they arrived.

"Alright everyone, we're going to divide you all up into groups since we can't fit everyone in the basement at once. Go through in groups and get out of the basement as fast as possible. Quorra, you, me and our guests go first."

On those words, Sam makes his way through the crowd with Quorra, Finn, Jake, and PB in tow. He raised his disk toward the light above them and it began to defy gravity. The disk floated up into the pin spot of light at the end of the portal. The portal's glow grew brighter and brighter until it blotted out all else. Everything went black and after a moment they feel solid ground beneath their feet once again. Quickly they all ran for the door as the laser fired up again.

"Time to see the sun again Quorra." Sam said as he ran up the stairs with Quorra and the others.


	4. Off-Grid At Last

When the light faded, they were back in the dust filled basement of the arcade and they all let the events of the last hour sink in.

Sam and Quorra were running out the door and up the stairs when Finn, Jake, and PB reentered reality.

"Free at last, thank God almighty we're free at last." Sam said as he chased Quorra out the front door of the arcade.

As Sam and Quorra made it out side, their joy and elation turned to shock and confusion as they saw their entire group being surrounded by the banana guards.

"HALT who are you and how did you get here!" One of the banana guards barked.

"Banana guards STOP!" PB shouted as she reached the door and took a breath. "These humans are non-hostile, disengage and resume your posts."

"Yes Princess." The banana guards said obediently in unison and retreated back to continue with what they had been doing before.

"Wow you weren't kidding about living candy." Sam said to PB.

"You're more than welcome to come to the candy kingdom, I'd love to learn more about what the world was like before the war and how that machine in there works." PB said.

"That will have to wait for another day." Alan said as he pushed himself through the crowd of people towards Sam and PB.

"For right now, I think we'd all like to take you up on the first part of your offer, seeing as from the looks of things, most any structures that existed before aren't around anymore." Alan continued.

"Quite right, allow me to provide the quickest route between A and B." PB said as she pulled a large device from her pocket.

PB placed the device on the ground and pushed a button on it before backing away and watching it expand into a gateway.

"Everyone through, it only lasts a minute." PB said as she walked through the gateway and vanished.

"No modern anything for miles, and she has a teleporter in her pocket." Alan said with an incredibly large amount of suspicion and small hints of amazement.

"Come on guys everyone through, it's a three hour walk back to the Candy Kingdom without this thing." Finn said as Jake and him walked through.

Finn and Jake walked through the gateway and out into a large domed room, followed quickly by many humans.

"Everyone follow me." PB announced as the last few humans arrived and the gateway turned off.

Everyone followed PB up the stairs and through many corridors until they were in the main hall of the castle. PB took the time to help the many people find appropriate accommodations around the city and give the people that requested it, a group tour.

After several hours of this, PB was exhausted and the humans, for the most part, had settled into their temporary accommodations. She collapsed into her favorite chair in her lab, her mind so cluttered and tired, it took her many minutes to notice that Finn, Sam, Quorra, and Alan were messing with one of her white boards.

PB rose to her feet and drew closer to see what it was they were writing out. It captivated her when her tired brain began to understand what it was they were writing out. She cracked a smile.

"So nice of you to start writing out the specs for the machine. But…" PB kicked them all out of her lab and locked the door.

"Stay the hell out of my lab without my permission okay? See you all tomorrow because I need some sleep."


End file.
